2020 Fantasy Outlook: Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are the NFL defending champion and boast the best QB in the league. While they did see the departure of a few veterans in the offseason, they were also able to load back up in the draft. With Andy Reid having his first opportunity to defend a Super Bowl crown, look for the Chiefs to be absolutely dominant in 2020.
Offseason additions:
Ricky Seals-Jones
Mike Remmers
Taco Charlton
Offseason subtractions:
LeSean McCoy
Terrell Suggs
Kendall Fuller
Morris Claiborne
Emmanuel Ogbah
Reggie Rag
Draft Picks:
1.32 - Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB) LSU
2.63 - Willie Gay Jr (LB) Miss. St
3.96 - Lucas Niang (OT) TCU
4.138 - L’Jarius Sneed (S) Louisiana Tech
5.177 - Michael Danna (Edge) Mich
7.237 - Bopete Keyes (CB) Tulane
Quarterback: Breaking News: Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback on the planet, sorry Lamar truthers! What Mahomes has managed to do in his first three seasons is unprecedented, and that’s not taking into account that his rookie season he started only one game! Here are a few of Mahomes accomplishments before turning 25 years old.
- 5000 yard season
- 50 TD season
- MVP
- Super Bowl Champ
- Super Bowl MVP
Keep in mind only one QB outside of Mahomes is in the 50/5000 club and his name is Peyton Manning. While Mahomes didn’t replicate his 2018 numbers he did average over 25 ppg and led the league with 13 TDs over 20 yards, despite playing in only 14 games. To put it bluntly, Mahomes is the ONLY QB worth taking in your drafts first 3 rounds. Oh yeah, and he just secured the 💰 first half billion contract in sports LETSS GOOO!!!!
Running Back: The Chiefs did not have a single running back surpass 500 yards in 2019. Both Damien Williams and the departed LeSean McCoy struggled with injuries and production. However, the rich got richer in the offseason as the defending champs took the first RB in the draft Clyde Edwards-Helaire out of NCAA Champion LSU. That should help to rejuvenate the chiefs running game which was ranked 23rd in the league in rushing yards in 2019. Despite the rushing woes Damien Williams did erupt in the Super Bowl with 133 yards and 2 TDs. He won’t go away and is still a viable fantasy option on your bench, especially early in the season. Edwards-Helaire projects as a PPR beast and could very well be a top 5 fantasy rb in the second half of the 2020 season. CEH has as much upside as any running back in the league but temper expectations for the early part of the season for CEH and all other rookies.
Wide Receiver: With Mahomes at the helm and boasting the best offense in football it would be safe to assume that the Chiefs would have a number of fantasy relevant wide receivers. This is simply not the case. The silver lining is Tyreek Hill is a bona fide fantasy superstar. While Hill is known for his speed, he’s also a tremendous route runner, and a match up nightmare for anyone that covers him. As long as he stays healthy he should return WR1 value. After Hill it gets a little dicier. Sammy Watkins exploded in the playoffs in 2019 after another lackluster season. It’s hard to vouch for drafting Watkins at all as he is the ultimate peaks and valleys performer. After an absolute stud performance in week 1 last year, where he led all players in fantasy points, he finished no higher than WR 30 in any game for the rest of the season. Behind Watkins you have second year man Mecole Hardman who is a swiss army knife on the field, but doesn’t necessarily have that value translate into fantasy production. If Hill were to go down with an injury, Hardman would be a good bet to have an elevated performance. Hardman is worth a draft and stash later in drafts. Avoid the rest of these receivers as the consistency just is not there.
Tight End: While the Chiefs may lack in the WR department, they have arguably the best Tight End in the game with Travis Kelce. Kelce has dominated the TE position and has finished as TE 1 in 4 consecutive seasons. He is the alpha dog of this offense and finished with 97 receptions and 1229 yards in 2019. He only caught 5 TDs so there is actually room for him to still improve those statistics. You will have to pay a premium draft choice to roster him on your fantasy team, however, he produces numbers similar to a WR1. Draft Kelce with confidence, you’ll be glad you did.
Defense: Kansas City will be a run of the mill defensive team and will be a streaming option some weeks. Look for them to give up quite a few points but also to force a good amount of turnovers as well. The biggest concern for the Chiefs will be star DT Chris Jones who is threatening to hold out if he doesn’t get extended. Losing Jones would be a huge blow to this Chiefs defense. The Chiefs do have some playmakers on the defensive side outside of Jones though as Honey Badger Tyrann Mathieu, Breshaud Breeland, Anthony Hitchens, and Frank Clark are all slated to return in 2020. This team really started to gel at the end of 2019, so there is a chance they could make some noise. The Chiefs also have multiple threats in the return game which could boost this D/ST unit.
Andy Reid finally got his long awaited ring in 2019. It was a special moment for a truly special coach. The Chiefs didn’t lose much in the offseason and added another formidable weapon with Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Entering year 3 as a starter, Mahomes is the best in the league and on an unprecedented pace. This offense is good enough to carry this team all of the way and the defense has the pieces that could make them formidable. Look for Kansas City to easily cruise into the playoffs. With Tom Brady out of the AFC, the Chiefs are the locked in, no doubt about it favorites to repeat as AFC Champions.